The Cat's Meow
by Lola1140
Summary: New York City; it's a magical place to be for someone looking for a fresh start. That's why Rin relocated from her small town in Tennessee to the Big Apple. A run-in with the Foot Clan leaves her mutated and Rin is shown the other side and things aren't as glamorous as she had dreamed. She finds herself thrown into the lives of a mutant turtle family and a battle that's now hers.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: this is my first real fan-fic, so this will be a learning process for us all! Critiques are more than welcome, though I will not entertain rudeness (though I'm sure there will be none). Stay tuned!

When life gives you lemons, you ditch the lemonade stand and flee. That was Rin's train of thought when her parents died in an accident that should have claimed her life as well. Every time she closed her eyes, she relived the nightmare. The dark, stormy night. Her mother's worried voice and her father's gentle reassurance. The winding road and the gut-dropping feel of their car losing traction. The sickening sound of metal crunching as the car was tossed down the hillside like a child discarding their plaything. The silence.

She could still see her parents slumped and lifeless in their seats.

Her physical recovery was fairly short; doctors marveling the fact that she escaped with only a few minor cuts and bruises. After a few days, she was released from the hospital with a paper stating her fully recovered, but that didn't change her mental state. Everything she loved had been ripped away from her. It felt surreal, as if Rin was living someone else's life. The funeral was even worse than waking in the arms of a nurse while a police officer had broke the news of her parents' death. Family and friends crowded her, relentless with their murmurs of pity. She felt cornered and unable to escape. Though she would live those moments over and over again if it meant she could avoid returning to her family home. She went alone, not wanting the company of someone who would only feel sorry for her. Deep down, Rin knew her loved ones meant well, but she couldn't handle the blanket of sympathy that she would inevitably be thrown under in their presence. The drive up was fairly uneventful; carefully avoiding the road that had claimed the lives of her mother and father. Pulling into the all too familiar gravel driveway of their family home stood all that she had left of her parents; a monument of their life accomplishments. The only house that Rin had ever known.

It wasn't a mansion, but the light blue two-story farmhouse was her mother's dream, something her father had made a reality for his bride. Together, they had built the home from the slab up on a five acre parcel of land with their own blood, sweat, and tears. The house had always been a sanctuary for Rin, until she walked through the front door and found the place eerily quiet. All of her parents' belongings were exactly how they had left it. The home was frozen in time and Rin couldn't hold it in any longer. She had sank to the floor in a heap of sobs.

Weeks went by without Rin leaving the house; ignoring the pleas of her friends to get out and socialize. She was stuck in a depression that she couldn't shake. Things that had once brought her joy only left a sour taste in her mouth. It was on one sunny morning, the first in a long time, that Rin sat at the kitchen table and actually looked at newspaper her father had been reading the day of the accident. On the front page was an article speaking of New York City; painting the large city in a colorful and enchanting way that caught the young woman's attention. It brought back fond memories of her and her best childhood friend, just little girls back then, dreaming of becoming stars. With those memories came a hastily made decision, one that would lead her far from everything she had ever known in her quiet life, and she couldn't wait for it. Rin packed very little; just one suitcase full of clothes and a few prized possessions: her mother's wedding ring that now hung from a chain around her neck and her father's 9mm pistol that he had acquired from his father. She lovingly placed a few family photos into her suitcase, gathered her parents' emergency cash, and slipped quietly into her white Chevrolet Malibu. For a few, long moments, she stared at the house. Her blue eyes misted and she second guessed her actions for half a second before clenching her jaw and driving away, never looking back.

Settling in New York City was easier than Rin had originally planned it to be. Within a couple of days she had found an apartment, albeit a small one bedroom in a rather crummy part of town, but it was cozy and it was hers. She had decided it was somewhat impractical for her to drive her car around such a large city, so on her fourth day she traded her Malibu for a sport bike. She had rode dirt bikes as a teen all of the time and figured a motorcycle wouldn't be such a large difference. She learned quickly that there was a huge gap between country dirt and city pavement, but by day eight she had adapted amazingly well.

Day nine didn't go so smoothly. She was lounging on the floor of her apartment, as she had no real furniture yet, searching the Internet for work ads when her cell phone rang. The caller ID showed a picture of two girls. Herself and a brunette. Both smiled brightly back at her as they stood knee deep in the river with their arms around each other. Apprehension numbed Rin to the core as she slowly brought the phone to her ear.

"Hey Jessica," she greeted weakly and was met with a chorus of anxious screeches.

"Where have you been?" The girl exclaimed, "I stopped by your house and your neighbors said you hadn't been home in a week! They said they saw you leaving with a suitcase! Your grandmother has been worried sick!"

Guilt sank like a stone in Rin's stomach and her mouth went dry. She hadn't thought to tell anyone about her departure. Secretly she had hoped no one would notice her disappearance. "I, uh, I'm sort of out of town."

There was shuffling on the other end of the line and an indiscernible mumbling as if Jessica was speaking to someone else. "What do you mean 'sort of out of town'? Rin, where are you?"

"Um...New York City," Rin clutched the phone desperately, absently chewing on a finger nail.

"New York-are...are you, like, on vacation or something?" Jessica's voice suddenly hardened. She was suspicious, Rin knew this. "When are you coming home?"

Biting her lip, the blonde reached for her hair and began tugging on it. "Uh, I-I'm not..." Her voice trailed and there was a moment of silence as Jessica processed what Rin said.

Then she exploded. "What do you mean you're not coming home? You just pack up and leave without telling a god damn soul? What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you even care that you've worried your grandmother or are you just that fucking selfish?"

"Jess-"

"No, you shut up," her friend snapped, "I've been fucking patient with you, but this stunt..." Her voice cracked, "I don't even know who you are."

This left Rin stunned and she fought for words, her mouth opening and closing several times. She willed herself to say something, anything, to calm the situation, but it was no use. There was a soft click on the other end and the line disconnected. Rin dropped the phone as if it were poison and looked around her under-furnished apartment. She was truly alone in this world and she suddenly questioned if she had made the right choice. Her parents were gone. Her friends were gone. No one was coming to save her from this. Slowly, she curled into a ball on the floor, tears streaming down her face as she willed the pain to be over. _

A year passed since Rin's conversation with Jessica. Things had smoothed over back home, although Rin had vowed that she would never return. She couldn't go back to that place and her grandmother seemed to reluctantly understand this. The now twenty year old had found employment through a small "mom and pop" flower shop a few blocks from her apartment. It wasn't a high paying job, but the elderly Japanese couple had welcomed Rin with open arms and made her part of their family. With no kids of their own, Taji and Hana viewed Rin as the daughter they couldn't have.

It was six in the evening on a Friday. The sky was darkening and Rin was helping Taji and Hana close the shop. Normally, the girl was more than willing to stay as long as necessary to shoulder most of the responsibility off of her adopted family. Tonight, however, she was eager to set off and it showed clearly in the hurried way she went about the store.

"Watashi no kodomo," Taji spoke as he dusted the counter, "what has you troubled?"

Rin looked up in surprise from sweeping the floors. "Oh, it's nothing Gramps," she returned to hastily pushing the broom across the floor. "There's a concert a few blocks over and I was going to go check it out, that's all."

Taji narrowed his eyes in complete displeasure, "orokana ko, those places are dangerous for pretty women such as yourself. There will be men who hold no honor in how they think of you."

Hana, who had been humming while arranging flowers, chuckled softly. "Otto," she murmured without turning, "she is a big girl. Besides, she needs to socialize with people her age."

Rin smiled affectionately as Taji shook his head, grumbling angrily in Japanese. He reminded her of her late father in his steadfast protectiveness of her safety. "Fine," the old man sighed, scrubbing furiously at a spot on the weathered wood counter, "go before you miss it, but be safe!"

The blonde was already heading for the door, giving a quick kiss on the cheek to Hana and lifting her shirt to reveal her father's 9mm tucked into the front of her jeans. This earned a 'tsk' of disapproval from Taji as she ducked outside.

The late evening air was crisp, steadily losing the warmth of the day and Rin folded her arms across her chest, instantly regretting her choice of wearing a black tank top. It would take just a few minutes to run back to her apartment to grab a jacket, so she turned left down an adjacent street and began her trek back home. It was unusually deserted and Rin couldn't quite shake the feeling of someone watching her. Unease prickled at her neck and she quickened her pace, eyes darting to and fro for any sign of something malicious. She could see her apartment building looming in the distance and she started to feel more comfortable until a pair of hands grasped her roughly and yanked her down a dark alley, her scream of surprise muffled by a hand swiftly covering her mouth.

"Shh, pretty girl," a gruff voice sounded, "you wouldn't want to attract attention, now would you?" The voice cackled as she felt her assailant pull her closer to his body.

She growled against his hand, eyes wide with shock as another man stepped into her line of sight. He was rather tall with a muscular build and he did not look friendly. Rin quickly noted that he had a dragon tattoo on his neck and her blood suddenly turned to ice. After some time of living in the city she had become familiar with the term "Purple Dragons"; a street gang who definitely were up to no good. The man stepped ever closer and Rin gasped and tried to struggle against the other holding her as he stretched a hand to caress her face.

"Ah, ah, ah, my lovely flower," he crooned, running his fingers down her neck, "no fighting back. We have a job to do. I don't want to go unpaid all because you decided to do something stupid."

Rin felt the arm pinning hers down slack slightly. If only she could reach her gun then she...something glinted in the low light that brought her attention back to the man in front of her. He held a syringe full of a strange green liquid between them. She shook her head violently, a scream bubbling behind the hand silencing her as the man brought it forward.

"Now, my dear, this shouldn't hurt...much." The needle pierced her arm at the same moment as curiously shaped knife with three prongs lodged itself into the shoulder of the man.

He flailed, jabbing the needle further into Rin's skin and she was let go by the other as he pulled a knife from his pocket. "What the fuck?" He snarled, head whipping back and forth, "where are those freaks? I know they're here!"

Rin dropped to the ground, an agonizing scream tearing through her chest as her arm turned to fire. She writhed on the pavement, ripping at the needle still sticking out of her. Dimly, she was aware that a scuffle had broken out, but all that mattered in her world at the moment was making the fire stop. It was spreading now, white hot heat leaking through her whole body. Her screams subsided to sobs. She was going to die here in this god forsaken alley.

A voice sounded distantly, "dudes. Dudette doesn't look so good. I wonder what was in that needle."

"I'm not one-hundred percent certain," another said, "but I'm confident it was mutagen."

"Cool," the first voice said, "so does that mean we get to keep her?"

An irritated grunt replied to the first, "it's not cool, Mikey, and she's not a pet."

"We need to get her away from here," a last voice said, further than the rest, "I hear sirens and we can't leave her here if she's mutating."

Arms carefully lifted her and Rin whimpered in pain and fear. Vaguely she heard the sounds of someone comforting her, promising safety. Darkness swam at the edges of her consciousness and she gave way to it and the wild fire inside her body.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey, everyone! Just wanted to give an update as to why chapter 2 is taking so long! It's nothing too serious, I was just having problems approaching Rin's transformation, awakening, and aftermath of her realization of what has happened to her. By no means am I abandoning the story after just one chapter!

I began writing Ch1: Nine Lives with no backbone to go off of. I had a few scenes in mind, but didn't have a solid foundation to put those sequences of events in chronological order (in other words, I began totally blind and didn't create an outline to go off of). So, I'm simply retracing my steps and creating that outline I SHOULD have done before starting!

I assure you, chapter 2 is in the making! It's just taking me a little longer to finish it and get it up. My hope is that, once I have an outline, I can begin uploading on (at least) a weekly basis!

Thank you for being so patient with me!


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